By MIKE LOPRESTI
Gannett News Service

Duke is the Yankees. Duke is the Soviet hockey team, pre-Miracle on Ice. Duke is the Roman army. The British navy. The Ming Dynasty.

Duke is a meteor that always comes back, and the cloud that never stops raining.

Duke is the flu in winter and weeds in summer. Duke is Jell-O and Coca-Cola and McDonald's. Duke is a given.

Duke will be at the Final Four. Which is almost like saying a basketball will be at the Final Four.

The Age of Duke dawned in 1986, with some Polish guy from Chicago in charge. Since then, the sun has never really set on the Duke Empire.

Not for long, anyway.

Those Sweet 16 evictions the last two years were anomalies. Computer glitches. Corrections have been made. The world is normal again.

The TV commercials will vanish before Duke does.

In the past 19 years, the entire Pac-10 Conference - from Seattle to Tucson - has had six Final Four teams.

The entire Big East - from Providence to Pittsburgh - has had seven.

The entire SEC - from Kentucky to Florida - has had 10.

Duke has had 10 all by itself. More than the Conference USA, Atlantic 10, WAC and 22 other conferences combined.

As many as the other eight teams in the basketball asylum called the ACC.

Can it ever get old? Silly idea.

"You just want it to happen for the current group you have," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said the other day. "What has been done before is really irrelevant."

The sheer tonnage of Duke's statistics the past 19 years may be the only way to truly appreciate one of the most extended runs of excellence in sports.

Or loathe the Blue Devils even more. Because one of the most rapidly growing segments of the American population is Duke haters. So here it is. An epoch by the numbers.

13.1 - Percentage of the 76 available Final Four spots since 1986 taken up by a Duke team.

139 - Number of games Krzyzewski has coached in 24 years at Duke where the Blue Devils were unranked.

163 - Number of games Krzyzewski has coached in 24 years where Duke was ranked No. 1.

15 - Number of different schools UCLA had to beat to get to John Wooden's 12 Final Fours, back when all teams were kept in their geographic region.

34 - Number of different schools Duke has had to beat to get to Krzyzewski's 10 Final Fours, now that everyone plays everywhere.

10-1 - Krzyzewski's record in regional championship games. That's a record you're supposed to have after a December schedule of Towson State and Fairfield, not eyeball to eyeball with someone for the Final Four.

The one exception was Kentucky 1998. The Wildcats came from 17 down in the last 9:38.

38-2 - Duke's record against NCAA Tournament teams seeded No. 7 or lower since 1986.

39.7 - Percentage of times No. 1 seeds, not counting Duke, have reached the Final Four.

62.5 - Percentage of times No. 1 seed Duke has reached the Final Four.

2-4 - Duke's record in Krzyzewski's first four Final Fours.

8-2 - Duke's record in his last five Final Fours.

6-0 - Duke's record in its last six national semifinal games.

8 - Number of championship game appearances by Dean Smith and Bob Knight combined.

7 - Number of championship game appearances by Krzyzewski alone.

57 - Krzyzewski's age, as of Feb. 13.

4 - Number of Final Fours for John Wooden at the age of 57. Most of his championship nets were cut down later.

Which begs the most horrifying question of all to those who have grown nauseous of Duke.

What if Krzyzewski has just begun?